Miss Bell goes to pet store buys a cute kitten that has stripes, a tail and a smile so like a tiger, that she names him—what else?—“Tiger.” But Tiger soon grows out of kitten-hood; as a matter of fact, he is soon as big as a tiger, and even roars, moves and plays like a tiger! Although it’s obvious to others that this is no ordinary cat, bespectacled Miss Bell still sees Tiger as her beloved baby pet. “Cats are Cats,” she says.” Miss Bell knows that cats love to watch fish, so she returns to the pet store to buy Tiger some of the little critters.

Jeanette Winter writes excellent picture book biographies for early grade elementary students, and this book is no exception. Malala Yosafzai is a 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winner, despite being only 17 years old. When she was eleven, she spoke up about the importance of education for girls, despite the fact that she lived in Pakistan and received threats from the Taliban. Eventually, a Taliban fighter shoots her, but Malala lives after being transported across the ocean to be treated. And Malala continues to speak up.

This unique graphic novel invites its readers to read it four times--there are three color-coded rows, one each for Bird, Cat, and Dog. Read each row across to learn each animal's specific story, then read top to bottom to get the entire story, for all three characters are inter-connected. The book is entirely wordless, so young children can tell the story themselves, and older students can analyze the story and the pictures. The bright illustrations have lots of details to pore over.

This book is third in the chapter book series starring the protagonist of McCall Smith's adult series, the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. In this installment, Precious is invited to visit her Aunty Bee who lives at the top of Botswana and works at a safari camp because something exciting is going to happen there. It would be an expensive trip, and Precious' father is not sure he can afford a bus ticket, but he finds a way for Precious to travel with a cattle buyer he knows. When the fan belt breaks Precious has an idea to help.

In “Here Comes Santa Cat”, we meet a cat dressed up in a Santa suit that is having a conversation with an unseen narrator. After viewing Cat’s “current year to date” pie chart showing a ratio of his naughty to nice behavior, we learn why he wants to be Santa—he wants a present. Maybe if Cat does some nice things, Santa will give him a present after all. Cat’s attempts at niceness go terribly awry over and over, until finally he does it right. And Cat meets Santa after all. The ink and colored pencil illustrations show Cat with a multitude of emotions, and the u

Shooting at the Stars is a fictionalized account of the Christmas truce that occurred in the trenches between British and German troops during World War I in 1914. The story is told conveyed through a letter by a British soldier to his mother. He tells of December 24th, when the British soldiers heard singing coming from the opposing trench 30 paces away. Stille Nacht--Silent Night. The next morning, they woke up to calls from the German soldiers. Warily, soldiers from both sides began to step out into “No Man’s Land”. They first buried their d

This innovative and unique alphabet book takes a basic word like "beast", take away the "a" and "the BEAST is the BEST". "Without the B, the BRIDE goes for a RIDE." Reading the book straight through would be fun for preschool and kindergarten, but for older students and their teachers, its a great excuse for wordplay! Highly recommended.

Among my very favorite picture books are those with the theme of changing seasons. This story by Wisconsin author Miller is at the top of the list. At a fall farm market with her mother and father, Sophie picks out a yellow squash. The squash is just the right size for Sophie to hold, and--it turns out—to love. “I’m glad we met,” says Sophie.

Who are the stars of this book? Colors or Shapes? With the help of three unusual judges (featured in Boldt’s 123 versus ABC), two teams vie for the honor. Team Color takes the stage to begin a talent contest, but Shapes soon crash it, and the game is on. Red, Blue and Yellow do some fancy mixing to create a variety of new colors--everything from purple to turquoise. But the shapes, including Circle, Triangle, and Square, show that they can change as well, adding side